'Bloodborne' New Details And Incredible Screenshots Released

Bloodborne is the upcoming PS4 exclusive from SCE Japan Studio and FromSoftware.

And it looks absolutely terrifying, filled with lycanthropic beasts and a dark, Gothic city beset upon by a strange sickness.

Here's how Masaaki Yamagiwa from Japan Studio describes the game:

"I am here to talk about a new Action RPG, Bloodborne, which will launch early 2015 exclusively for the PlayStation 4 console," writes Yamagiwa over at the PlayStation blog. "Bloodborne is a new collaboration for us, being developed by FromSoftware and produced by SCE Japan Studio. This game will transport players to a dark and terror-filled gothic world, a world full of deranged beings and nightmarish creatures."

He goes on to say:

Bloodborne takes place in an ancient, forgotten city called Yharnam, known for an old medical remedy. Over the years, many hopeless and afflicted people have made long pilgrimages to Yharnam in search of help. As the main character, you are one of these travelers. However, you find that Yharnam is also cursed with a horrible endemic illness. You must navigate the perilous streets of this city, fighting off nightmarish creatures, malformed beasts and deranged mobs stricken with this horrific illness. Face your fears as you discover the secrets and mysteries of this dark and horrific world where danger, death and madness lurk around every corner.

In Bloodborne, the combat is based on intense life-threatening battles. One of the ways we are bringing that sense of danger to life is by keeping the deep strategic elements from Demon’s Souls, while also transitioning from the passive and block-and-attack style of Demon’s Souls to a quicker, more offensive and active combat style with close-range weapons and guns.

As I expected, it looks like the gameplay is moving away from heavy armor and shields toward something faster-paced, though it sounds like it will be every bit as deadly and challenging---and perhaps most importantly, strategic. There are enough hack and slash games out there. What's always diferentiated the Souls games hasn't been the difficulty, it's been that weird combination of action and real-time strategic thinking required to survive. I love that they're at once changing and remaining loyal to the formula.

Adding guns to the mix should be really interesting, but the images (below) of werewolves and other Gothic creatures are really exciting.

This city of Yharnam looks and sounds incredible as well, and I can't wait to see what sort of level design FromSoftware can cobble together in an urban setting.

Game Director Hidetaka Miyazaki says of the game:

“Creating Bloodborne as a completely new game on the new PlayStation 4 hardware has allowed us to really push the envelope in myriad ways. That being said, in more ways than one, it also very much retains our distinct, signature style. As has been at the core of our development philosophy since Demon’s Souls, we make true games for people who love games. Please watch for more to come on Bloodborne, and thank you very much for your support.”